INTL FCStone pegs Australian wheat production below official forecasts

SYDNEY, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Commodity brokerage INTL FCStone on Thursday pegged Australian wheat production below recently reduced official estimates, as a crippling drought in the country’s east shows no signs of easing.

The brokerage forecast Australian wheat output for the year to end-September 2019 at 18.78 million tonnes, below Australia’s latest official estimate of 19.1 million tonnes.

Australia’s chief commodity forecaster earlier this week cut its production forecast by nearly 13 percent to a 10-year low as the east coast suffers through its worst drought in more than 60 years.

INTL FCStone also pegged Australian canola production at 2.4 million tonnes, below the official forecast of 2.8 million tonnes.